Over the past decade significant scientific advances have been made both dietary supplements (DS) and functional foods (FF) research. As this research continues to advance, opportunities to employ new and innovative research technologies and methodologies such as DNA microarrays, chip technology and proteomics are critical for the future progress of the science. Thus, to highlight these new technologies and their potential applications to DS and FF research, a major international scientific conference will be convened September 20-21,2004, in Chicago, Illinois, entitled: "Emerging Scientific Technologies: Application to Dietary Supplement and Functional Foods Research." The meeting will be co-hosted by the UIC/NIH Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements Research and the Functional Foods for Health Program at University of Illinois Urbana. The goal of this meeting will be promote a multi-disciplinary scientific exchange of ideas that will promote the use of these new technologies to and methods for the scientific assessment of DS and FF, as well as facilitate new cross-disciplinary research initiatives in these fields. This goal will be achieved through 1) discussing new "state of the art" techniques and methods, 2) assessing their application to the scientific and clinical investigation of DS and FF and 3) promoting new research collaborations between investigators. The scientific agenda will include four major scientific sessions organized into distinct biological and chemical themes: 1) DNA arrays and chip technology-applications and rational design for assessing biological mechanisms of action; 2) Application of Proteomics and Protein Microarrays to DS and FF research; 3) Emerging bio-analytical methods for standardization and quality control of DS and FF; and 4) Advances in bioinfomatics and data mining. The speakers chosen for this conference are well respected leaders in their field. In addition to plenary speakers, four short talk and poster sessions will highlight the new emerging science. The support of an NIH R13 grant is essential for this conference to provide funds for plenary speakers, to allow students and post-doctoral fellows to participate, and for video archival of the conference for the UIC Botanical Center and FFH websites. [unreadable] [unreadable]